Archive for November, 2006
Well as much as I would love to slap down nearly $2,000 for a MacBook Pro and replace my HP Laptop - I think I am going to prioritize the money to go towards the friends server. The great thing about the friends server is allows me to clean off Business Servers of Friend stuff, but also allows me to give friends more space, more access, more.. well everything.
That is the one thing I miss having servers off-site, is the “hands on” aspect, really getting to play with the system, upgrade hardware as needed without having to pay a 3rd party to add ram, drives, do diagnostics, which at some level is a lot more entertaining than just remoting in, and poking around - but instead if I need to do some in-depth checking, I can go down, have a direct terminal, and make some magic happen.
So while I would love to be completely Mac in the realm of laptop/desktop (as the primary OS anyway) sadly that isn’t the plan it seems, moving forward to the friend server will be helpful, and some good folks have put in some good donations that’ll help cover a bit of the cPanel licensing, but I am going to make up the rest, thus putting the MacBook on hold, till probably after the new year, unless someone drops a project/cash in my lap, I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Anywhoo - been 3 hours since I started writing this, and just now found it’s tab still open in firefox, so must mean it’s time to get going. 
Well another week has gone by, mildly productive week, lots of mini-distractions (which were nice) and various other things going down in the realm of “The Project” just getting some discussion out there, not a TON, but it’s moving, so that’s something I suppose.
Fun stuff this week Blockbuster announced its new Total Access system, so instead of returning your Blockbuster Online Rentals via Mail, goto your local “Total Access” store and drop em off, and get a free rental for each - wicked cool, I returned my 3, got 3, and 2 days later after the 3 I returned cleared, I got 3 more. So I have 6 DVD’s in house, all new releases - and 2 free rental coupons still sitting on my desk, now thats crazy good stuff.
Server Migration Round 2 - finished up today, getting the last stragglers off the old server, migrated to the new, still some minor blips as some stuff is going to the old server, so I have been pushing a few DNS updates by hand across NS1/NS2 - but NS1 will change tonight, and should (says a prayer) allow the old server to be shut down by Saturday Night - I am doing similar stuff soon - but the big news for server stuff is “Friends Server!” got a HUGE donation from the kMan:
- P4 - 2.6ghz (or maybe 2.8 - it was late)
- 2GB of RAM
- 2 - 300GB Drives (SATA)
- CD-ROM (I think it’s a burner, but if not, I’m going to get a DVD burner for archiving backups)
So very easily a friend server, and as time goes on I do want to add some sort of NAS/Backup system on it, and have the system nightly rsync to it, so we have a mirror of things, but that is down the line, now I simply have to buy a copy of cPanel, Installatron, and get the ball rolling probably this time next week - so much to do though - but should help clean up the business servers, and get things on them limited to paying customers only.
I am doing well though, still working towards the goal of Mac’n it with a laptop, but just going slow, as it is nearing the holiday season, don’t want to blow my Christmas present budget on myself - but we shall see how that all goes - but I do have a plan for FH, sadly with most stuff, I am looking at launching first of the year, which should have me with a firm server setup, firm new upgrade options (anti-spam, storage, etc) and much more.
Sooo - that’s my blip on the radar, friends are still welcome to donate some $$$ to the server fund, helps cover software costs, as well as possibly a 10mbps x 10mbps line at the office (mmm bandwidth) - so much up in the air, so many awesome possibilities, I just need a nap. 
But instead I’m going to go find lunch.
Posted on 10 November '06 by Chuck Brown, under basic goodness. No Comments.
Well I am back in Bakersfield, and apparently my servers missed me, within hours of getting home, one server was hit by an attack, again, and again, and again - finally put in some tweaks to hopefully stop it for a bit, but then there was a network outage - so 30 minutes later that was squared away, and I snuck out to get a bite to eat.
All in all a wonderful break to the coast, a nice place to visit, stayed off the net and work as much as could be allowed, but the catch 22 to being the owner, syadmin, billing, support, and sole worker, is I can’t pass the buck but I have also fine-tuned my plan for Jan. 1, 2007 - a lot of changes will go into place then, pretty much a bulk of what I have been planning, some stuff customers will get before then, but the big stuff (new servers, and such) will come at the start of the new year.
The journey to Mac-Only is still on the table, looking realistically at the budget with the various big purchases yet to make this year, so at this point its wait and see, but I think it’ll be possible, a be sort of nice, my laptop has been odd lately, did some clean-up tonight, but still more to do, switched my NAS back on here, going to offload some project files, photos, and music, and possibly re-install from scratch.
But as always, things like my BIG road trip, are still in the “things I’d like to do” category, but sadly, it’s looking like more and more it’ll happen after the new year, which I am sad to see happen, but at the same time if I can lay down some of this new infrastructure, possibilities are endless as to what I can do, and give me more flexibility to be out and about, and not worry about not being able to reach something while in the middle of say Oregon.
Last but not least, I am shipping off the video card from BfP once it gets back CentOS will be installed, and I am going to purchase a copy of cPanel for it, and set it up at the office to be the new “Friend” server, armed with a 250GB drive, and shortly after the budget balances out a secondary / backup 300GB drive - so should offer some nice space for friends, and 1.5-6.0mbps of bandwidth (that’s still in flux - working on a finalized office plan) but should be a seamless move since none of my friends use Frontpage - so no complex moves really other than maybe a path adjustment, of which most folks can do with VIM from ssh or a quick jump into FTP - but need for donations on this front are still welcome, but again, not required - probably be setup by next Friday if the RMA goes smoothly.
Anywhoo - 1:30am is rapidly approaching, so I am going to swap chairs (back broke off this one) and settle in for some various lil projects.
Beach Livin - a nice getaway:
It’s a fun time, hung out with my cousin a bit, went to Flushed Away with the Kid and my bro, and hung out and chatted with Harmony for a bit, a nice relaxing weekend, but going to make my way back to Bako tomorrow, get all situated, maybe work on my bedroom a bit, and probably work to get back to the gym as well now that my energy level is getting back up, break helped, so maybe a jump to the work-out wagon again. Who knows.
Well back to loafin. Night folks.
Well I am up here in Grover Beach, sadly with no Sherminator here, but life goes on, and got to have dinner with my brother and fam, twas nice, and with tomorrow night being a full moon, the camera is with me, sadly - I can’t find my tripod! So im going to have to be VERY still
Anywhoo - I am going to try and limit online time a bit, probably not as much as I’d hope, but enough to check email, maybe a quick IM, but all in all, the plan is to relax, unplug, unwind, enjoy the beach. Have a Good Weekend Kids.
Posted on 3 November '06 by Chuck Brown, under basic goodness. No Comments.
Well this morning I awoke to my usual mini-routine for checking in on servers, which includes reading a little thing called “LogWatch” that servers send me, well one server’s was missing. Which was odd, upon digging deeper, I found that the server in question (like many others around the net) had there server sync up with a time server and jump 12 hours into the future.
So after getting a neutral time server - I was back on track at the early morning hour - worked great, but then in hitting the net in search of what happened, found many others had hit the same issue with that time server in question, and it seems at various times this morning the server has been corrected, then back to the issue from this morning, so hopefully before tomorrow’s morning update, it’ll be fixed - if not, I have rdate all lined up to do another sync.
Tonight I head out with Mr. Sherman to the wonder and majesty that is the coast, crashing at my brother’s house, then spending Saturday torturing hanging out with my cousin, as she usually comes to bako to visit I drag her around, now she gets to enjoy dragging us around.
So I may not be on IM this weekend, but the cell will be on - but I best be getting to my day, have a laptop to get paid for and give back (apparently I have fixed it better than anyone else thus far - as I managed to get on-board wifi working) - but it was a fun little repair, really a nice distraction from other sorts of work I had on my plate the last week or so.
Oh oh, the site for now hence forth known as Codename: TBR - is on the move, mixed discussion/insanity yesterday with the crew who will be working things, testing some software, and one thing I want to work on over the next week or so is organizational ideas, for group brainstorming, help on resources, etc. still can’t say too much about it, but Codename: TBR above and beyond anything else will be fun, possibly mildly profitable, and it’ll let me have fun with PHP, and possibly Ruby! So my favorite kind of programming, for fun, and possibly profit.
Anywhoo - thats really it, best get moving into Friday, and see what happens - oh and I’ll leave you with this from the latest (not the last) Awaken Shoot:
